(Santa Fe, NM)— The New Mexico State Department of Education
(SDE) today posted a draft version of the revised K-12 Science Content
Standards, Benchmarks and Performance Standards on its web site and
announced that it will accept public comment on the proposed standards
from Tuesday, May 27, through Thursday, July 3, 2003. The standards
are available on the SDE’s Curriculum, Instruction and Learning
Technologies (CILT) Unit web site at www.ped.state.nm.us/cilt.

“The standards are intended to articulate what students should
know and be able to do at each grade level, K-12. They are not curriculum
but expectations for learning,” said Sharon Dogruel, the SDE’s
CILT program manager. “Public feedback is important to ensure
that the revised science standards are of the highest quality.”

The web posting includes an online public comment form. Questions regarding
the draft standards can be addressed to Dogruel at sdogruel@ped.state.nm.us.

At the request of the New Mexico State Board of Education (SBE), writing
teams of K-12 educators and higher education faculty began developing
the revised draft standards in 2002. They address three specific learning
strands: scientific thinking and inquiry, content of science and science
and society.

The SDE held a community review on April 16, 2003, to solicit input
on whether essential content and skills were articulated throughout
the standards.

The SBE will consider the final draft of the science standards at its
August 2003 regular meeting in Santa Fe. Once approved, the standards
will remain in place for six years. School district curriculum must
be aligned with the standards within two years after adoption.

“Science is one of the four core academic areas essential for
student achievement and success. In addition to the standards, there
is much on the horizon in the area of science,” Dogruel said.
The SBE will adopt new science textbooks in 2005. As a result, new science
materials will be in classrooms in 2006. By the 2005-2006 school year,
three units of science will be required for high school graduation,
per HB 212, passed by the Legislature and signed by Governor Bill Richardson
this year. And by 2006, the state will have developed a criterion-referenced
test for science